title: A retrospective survey on rotated drawing in persons with mild cognitive impairment or degenerative dementia.
abstract: Rotation of drawings has been described in focal brain lesions, at copy when the dorsal visual stream is involved, at recall in patients with memory or frontal dysfunction. In the present study Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure performance was reviewed in 445 consecutive patients with mild cognitive impairment or degenerative dementia; a smaller sample (n = 243) had also performed the recall trial. Rotation was present in 19 cases overall: at copy in 11, at recall in 7, and at recall on a first assessment and at copy on retest in 1 last patient. Rotation at copy was often associated with neuropsychological and metabolic imaging evidence of parietal dysfunction, supporting previous evidence that rotation at copy might be due to an impairment of object perception processes within the dorsal visual stream. Rotation at recall seemed to be related predominantly to executive deficits, but no specific hypothesis on its cognitive origin can be advanced based on the present data.
authors.affiliation: a Neurology Section, S. Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine , University of Milan Bicocca , Italy .
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Isella
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Traficante
authors.forename: Chiara Francesca
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Tagliabue
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mapelli
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caffarra
authors.forename: Ildebrando Marco
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Appollonio
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013028:Space Perception